Mêlée Colosseum
by shadowfax272
Summary: 25 fighters from all over the universe are captured and forced to fight each other for some unknown prize. But whatever the reward, the costs are far too great... Roster based on SSBM.
1. Chapter 1

Marth put a hand to his aching head and breathed deeply. _What happened?_

As his vision began to refocus, he noticed he was in a very strange room, a cell of some sort. There was no furniture of any sort, just cold black walls, coruscating with odd green and purple pulses of light that danced across the walls and floor as if alive.

He instinctively reached for his sword Falchion on his back. _Still there…_

There was someone else in the other corner of the room, also bearing blue armour, but with red hair. Before Marth had time to react, the red-haired figure leapt up and produced a blade much like Marth's own, which immediately shimmered with flame upon being withdrawn from its scabbard.

"Who are you?" The redhead cried. "Where am I?"

Marth chuckled to himself and slowly got up from the floor.

"If I knew where we are, boy, I would tell you. I am as oblivious as you are." He announced, walking across the room elegantly, but cautiously, with hand on hilt.

"I am Prince Marth, of the kingdom of Altea."

He watched the youngster carefully, knowing he could spring at any moment, and prepared a plan in defence.

The redhead's expression loosened, and the flame dissipated as he slowly sheathed the sword.

"Roy, son of the marquess Pherae, of Elibe." He proclaimed.

"You have a hot head and a heart of flame, Roy." Marth responded. "Your blade befits you. Sons of royalty us both, I see we will make a fine team…"

He trailed off and turned his head as he heard a strange noise nearby, like explosions going off.

* * *

Presently, Samus was firing all manner of missiles and plasma shots into the transparent wall holding her in the cell, to no avail. 

_Curses…I suppose I'm stuck in here, then._

She paused as a strange figure appeared out of the corner of her eye – an anthropomorphic cat of some kind outside. She lowered her armcannon so as to appear less threatening…but the other creature appeared malicious.

"Who's there?"

Mewtwo smirked at Samus, waving his tail about teasingly, before floating away.

"Hey! Come back!" Samus growled.

_I suppose I'm still stuck in here__…_

* * *

Marth glanced over to where Mewtwo was, gliding across the ground. 

"What is that, some sort of demon?!" Marth queried.

"He must be the one behind this!" Roy yelped, running towards him.

"Hey, you there! What do you want with us?"

"Roy, don't! He could be dangerous." Marth cautioned, but it was too late. Mewtwo had already noticed them both.

Marth jolted up suddenly and clutched his head as if in pain. Roy had a similar reaction. They heard a telepathic message resounding through their brain, and to those unaccustomed to such invasions, it can be quite uncomfortable.

_It is time for you to see the others. Come with me._

The transparent walls dissipated, and Marth began to approach Mewtwo. Roy, however, was not so passive, drawing his sword and running towards the Pokémon, yelling.

Mewtwo nonchalantly raised a single paw in response, lifting a frightened Roy into the air. The Sword of Seals fell down to the ground with a metal clang.

"Roy!" Marth cried, but he had already been released from Mewtwo's psychic grip and fell onto his stomach.

You will come peacefully. Save your energy for later.

Marth turned from helping Roy up to see a strange human in a large robotic suit coming towards him. He was surprised to hear a female voice emerge from it.

"He'll be all right. I think we should follow whatever that thing is if we want to get out of here." She pointed to Mewtwo, who was already drifting off.

"I'm Samus Aran."

* * *

"Wait up, Link! I'm not quite as fast as you!"

Link stopped running and turned back to take Zelda's hand.

"We've got to keep going if we're going to catch up with everyone else." He conceded.

"Right!" Zelda replied.

Presently the two came to a stop in a large hall, decorated with the same black and dancing lights as the rest of the place. It was quite crowded – there were at least twenty different people there of all races and kinds.

Of these, it seemed only Luigi, Mario, Peach and Yoshi recognized each other. The rest were utterly confused. A few were making introductions, and two Inuits were calming down a crying Pichu. A Pikachu nearby looked up to acknowledge Zelda and Link.

"Finally, someone normal!" came a voice from behind.

Link and Zelda turned around to see a red-headed boy in blue armour running towards them, accompanied by a blue-haired man who was in somewhat less of a hurry. Both wielded swords. A girl in a body suit was following behind as well.

"I'm Roy-"

"Roy, we don't have time for this." Marth interrupted. "I demand to know what's going on here and where we are."

"Looks like you'll find out soon enough." Samus interjected, gesturing to a platform above, where Mewtwo had appeared.

"Ganondorf!" Zelda gasped, as the aforementioned warlock also joined Mewtwo on the stand. But something else came into view, too. Something that shocked everyone.

It was a giant, disembodied gloved hand.

"Welcome to you all. I'm sure you all have many questions which will be answered shortly." The gloved hand spoke.

"I am the Master Hand, and this is my realm. I have given you all a few moments to get to know each other, but I'm sure you all want to know why you are here. Well, that is simple. I have gathered you all together from the various universes here today to compete in a tournament."

A collective cry came from the audience.

"What madness is this?" Marth shouted.

Both Ganondorf and Mewtwo seemed to be enjoying the reaction and were chuckling to themselves.

"The majority of you have competed in this tournament before, but you will not remember that. Your memories of it were erased at its closure."

"Now then, the matchups have already been drawn, and each of you will soon begin combat. Rest assured, there will be a grand prize for the final victor."


	2. Chapter 2

Marth sat in the corner of the black cell, meditating. Or at least, trying to. His focus was consistently interrupted by Roy's voice yelling and grunting, and the sounds of flame whirling through the air.

"You've been at that for how long, now?" Marth sighed, opening his eyes to watch his cellmate jumping about slashing at the wall.

"I don't know, and I don't care!" Roy wiped sweat from his brow before jumping at the wall again, fire from the Sword of Seals exploding along the strange surface. Where it struck, lights flashed out in ripples, creating a strange humming sound, but the impact otherwise seemed to have no effect.

"You're making quite a fool of yourself."

Roy growled. "I'd like to see you do better!"

"It's not going to work, Roy."

"No point not trying. Besides…think of it as training! What're _you_ doing, trying to sleep?" Roy smirked.

"It's called meditation. It keeps you calm. _You_ should try it some time."

"Hey! What're you implying?"

Silence responded sternly for a while, before it was softly broken.

"Roy…I don't know how you're going to fare in this." Marth said suddenly.

"What do you mean?" Roy inquired, lowering his sword.

"You put your heart before your head. The people we're fighting aren't like us. They'd have different cultures, different styles. If you just leap into battle, you'll find it difficult to win."

Roy raised his blade and leapt at the wall again, ignoring the Altean.

"You're afraid, aren't you?" Marth smirked.

"What're you talking about? Of course not!" Roy barked.

Marth chuckled to himself.

"Is everyone on Elibe like you?" he inquired.

"What do you mean?" Roy asked.

"You know, brash, hotheaded, whatever."

"Not that I know of. Most people I know are pretty boring. Like you." Roy grinned from ear to ear. He sheathed his sword and turned to face Marth, at full attention now.

"I'll have you know I killed dragons and saved the world _before_ it was popular." Marth retorted. "Now everyone's doing it. Doesn't seem much of an achievement, these days."

"I did what I did because it was necessary. I swore an oath to the marquess of Ostia, rest his soul, that I'd protect his daughter." Roy responded seriously, a change from his usual demeanour.

"So you killed a dragon? And the king of Bern?"

"That was an afterthought. He was a tyrant, anyway. Idenn - the dragon - was a demon…her soul was taken away and she was being controlled by Zephiel. I couldn't kill her…she survived and is at peace now."

"I'm quite sure."

"I don't go around killing dragons for fun and sport. They're sacred creatures from another world, and we should respect that. It irks me how they're so demonised. I hear on Tellius the dragon laguz are most ostracised by the humans."

"The dragon I killed was not sacred. His goal was to enslave the human race." Marth grunted.

"But how do you think it came to that? Don't you think they at least deserve some respect for everything we've done to hurt them? The Scouring, and…" Roy trailed off.

"You seem to have a soft spot for dragons. Funny how you have a dragon-slaying sword, then."

"My mother was half dragon." Roy intoned softly, studying the Sword of Seals thoughtfully.

"She gave up life in Paradise to marry my father…but she soon died of illness. I…never knew her.

"It's my belief that humans and dragons can live in peace. Before the Scouring, that's exactly what happened…and they still do, in Arcadia. It's a shame that they're so demonised."

Marth snorted.

"I find that hard to believe."

Roy glared at him.

"Are you saying that you've never known a good dragon?" he sighed.

"Oh, I have." Marth retorted.

"I like to think of them as the exception to the rule."

Roy growled.

"What makes you hate them so much, then? And what of wyverns?"

"Dragons are vile and evil creatures. They are no different to any other animal. They exist for humans' use, and if they step out of line, they are to be neutralised. That is all."

"But dragons are intelligent."

"As are dogs."

Roy sat silent for a while, furrowing his brow. He knew he wasn't about to win this battle.

"So…you hate dragons. Is there anything _else_ I need to know about the great hero of Akaneia?"

"You're not exactly perfect, either." Marth smirked.

Suddenly, there was a great flash of light, and Roy had disappeared.

Roy glanced around at his new surroundings. He stood on a short platform which didn't seem to be supported by anything; it was simply floating around in space. There seemed to be no way in or out. All around was only the black void, punctuated with millions of pinpricks of starlight.

Other, smaller platforms hovered around in front of him, forming a sacred triangle with the ground. A nebula exploded in full few of the battlefield, bathing everything in an eerie purple light.

Despite the silence and beautiful surroundings, however, there was a tense atmosphere about. The Sword of Seals sang as something approached Roy at intense speed, a blinding blur of yellow with tinges of black. It was shouting something in a strange animal language, perhaps a battle cry, or an acknowledgement of the circumstances.

Roy didn't have time to think. He was angry at Marth. He was confused at where he was. He didn't even estimate that he was being forced to fight a living creature.

He roared and threw the Sword of Seals, a dancing flame flying out and turning the yellow thing into a charred fireball which flew a few metres and skidded across the platform.

Roy gasped as he realised what he had done. He ran towards the little creature and knelt down to console it.

He vaguely recalled this little animal from earlier, though it was barely recognisable now, covered in horrible burns. Its large, bright eyes, though, were still as brilliant blue as a clear sky. They looked up at him sadly.

"Pi-pichu…"


	3. Chapter 3

Roy was oddly silent when he was returned to the cell, as if a little piece of him had been ripped out. Marth pursued explanation, but received little, as the Pheraean preferred to avoid him. He sat in the corner for ages, often drawn up into himself, sometimes staring at his sword with hatred, other times muttering something under his breath that sounded like "I killed it."

One thing he couldn't help but wonder was how long this would go on for. There were at least twenty people in that room before. Would they all have to keep fighting and dying until only one was left? There had to be a way to save them. No more could die. He could not let them. And what of Marth? Has he had to fight anyone yet? And if not, when?

Marth racked his brains for a suitable answer to the plethora of questions running through his head. Where had Roy gone to? What had traumatised him so much? Will it happen to me?

Well, it was time to ask someone else.

Marth knocked on the wall (to no avail, the sound was almost entirely muffled) and yelled out into it, hoping to reach the cell next to him.

"Samus! You there?"

Hearing a voice call her name, Samus paused from tinkering with her arm cannon. Her visor indicated, as always, that there were two people in the previous room, one who she knew as Roy, and the other whose name was unknown.

She switched on her amplifier.

"What's up?"

Roy almost jumped at the sudden noise, before returning to his melancholy state.

"I don't believe we've been properly introduced." Marth responded. "I am Marth of Akaneia. Listen, Roy's gone into trauma, and I was wondering if you knew anything about it."

"Not a clue." Came the response.

"Sorry."

Marth sighed and stood up, approaching Roy. He backed into the corner and looked up at Marth.

"…what?"

"You could at least tell me what's going on…"

Roy sighed and shook his head.

"Lighten up, will you. You've killed many before, as have I, indiscriminately."

"This is different!" Roy yelped.

"I killed something unarmed, defenceless…"

"I doubt that."

"It didn't stand a chance…it was gone with one swing of my blade. It wasn't my enemy…I don't know what it wanted…we didn't have to fight…"

"Death is a certain thing, Roy." Marth replied.

"If what you say is true, and we must kill…then we are saving them from further suffering."

"That's disgusting!"

"It is inevitable. What else do you suppose we do? That demonic cat is very powerful, and it is only a puppet to those other abominations. If we disobey their rules, who knows what may become of us."

"You are selfish!" Roy leapt up and threw a punch at Marth, hitting him square in the jaw.

"You only ever cared about yourself! You think you're a hero, but you're really just a big bully!"

Marth paused and clutched his jaw, staring in horror at Roy. A drop of blood trickled from his mouth, but it was nothing. His thoughts turned to his wife, who was surely still waiting in Altea for his return, worried sick about him.

_If Shiida could see me now…_

"…You promised to protect the marquess' daughter, you said." Marth said.

Roy continued to stare at him angrily.

"If that's so, then the only way to ensure you fulfil your oath…is to get out of here alive."

"I will _not_ simply stand back and allow others to die, whether by my hand or yours!"

"Then you'd sooner die yourself?"

"If that is the only way…"

There was a flash of light from the cell next door. Roy's heart sank down in his chest.

"You'll soon see." he intoned sadly.

As if on cue, a flash of light engulfed Marth.

He had to shield his eyes for a moment to adjust to the light. A bright blue sky heralded him, completely devoid of clouds. The ground below him was hard rock and earth, but stone buildings jutted out on occasion, oddly flat enough to walk on. This place clearly used to be a great temple, but was now reduced to ruin. He walked out to the edge of one of the earthen platforms, to get some semblance of where exactly he was. What he saw shocked him.

A sea of clouds floated far below, with traces of green and blue to be seen beneath them. The temple, and the earth supporting it, was completely free-floating, with nothing pointing as to how or why. The rock below was jagged and pointed, as if it had been completely ripped out of the earth.

_This can't be real…_

He leapt up onto higher elevation and ran the whole length and breadth of the land, until he saw someone.

It was a young man garbed all in green, and he sat on the edge of a stone platform, one hand on a pillar. He seemed to be at peace, like something about this place resonated within him. Marth recognised him from earlier, but otherwise had no idea who he was.

Marth walked towards the man, but he seemed to have heard his footsteps, and leapt up, brandishing a sword with lightning speed. But he hesitated after seeing Marth, and paused, lowering his weapon.

"Do you not consider me a threat?" Marth smirked.

"We don't have to fight." Link replied.

"Perhaps…" Marth admitted.

"But if we don't, then those who are watching us will not be happy." Link responded.

Marth whirled around, looking around frantically, but could find nobody else.

"What are you talking about?"

"Isn't it obvious? All of this is an illusion. We're only playthings for the puppet masters. Whatever they want, it's been set up so that we can't escape. The only way to get out is either to win or lose."

Marth fell silent.

"This place is a great temple. There are many like them in my world. I was lucky enough to meet with someone earlier, who seemed to be another version of me…he was not at peace as I am. I know how he felt, never having the chance to experience a proper childhood…I lived that life once. But I got another chance, and now I am complete."

"Did you fight him?"

"Yes, but he is not dead. He couldn't die, or else I couldn't exist."

"That is impossible."

"Look around you! Everything that exists here, in this weird place, all of it is impossible! This is no form of magic, it's something more powerful that none of us know yet. That person you were with before, with the strange armour…maybe they know something about it. But that doesn't matter now. What matters now, is whether or not we choose to fight."

"Do you wish to fight?" Marth asked.

"I'm not so sure. First, I want to know what's going on here, and second, I don't even know you."

"Perhaps it is best that one not know their opponent too well before they kill them. It may stay their blade."

"That too is true. You're a wise man."

"I have merely been taught the ways of wise thinking, as are all of my birth."

"You're a noble then?"

"You are not?" Marth inquired.

"Do I look like one?" Link smirked.

"I'm not so sure of anything anymore." Marth sighed.

"I don't know anything about this place. Isn't that curious, that a commoner know more than I."

"I wouldn't call myself so common!" Link snapped.

"I could cut you down with only one swing of my blade!"

_That sounds familiar…_thought Marth.

"I doubt it. This-" he unsheathed the Falchion, holding it up to the sunlight- "is the Falchion, the legendary dragon-slaying blade of the hero Anri. Forged from the fang of Naga itself, and used to slay the dark dragon Medeus, once by Anri and twice by myself. It is the original divine blade of Akaneia."

Link snorted.

"How cute."

"You don't seem impressed."

"I'm not."

"Are you still taken aback by my 'commoner' remark, commoner?" Marth teased.

Link held out his blade and assumed a battle stance.

"Well, _this_ is the Master Sword-"

"Real original name." Marth interjected.

"-the holy Blade of Evil's Bane, forged by the ancient sages and wielded by all the heroes of Hyrule, passed down to me. Only one who has proven themselves may wield this blade, and it has been used to defeat the forces of evil countless times."

"Well, then." Marth smirked.

"Shall we see what transpires when two legendary blades clash?"

"We are on the same side here, are we not?"

"You don't accept my challenge?"

"I don't wish to kill you."

"You assume that you will."

"I will live on to pass down the Master Sword to the next hero. There's no stopping fate. What then, is your fate?"

"Shiida prayed that if I die, that she be killed instead. As much as I hate to exploit her…I have two lives. That's one more than most."

"I fear your gods can't reach you here. Nor can mine, Zelda tried…"

A whipping sound filled the air as Marth fell to the ground. Link grabbed his boomerang when it returned.

He leapt onto the stunned Marth, knocking the Falchion aside and stepping on his arm. The Master Sword was pointed at Marth's neck.

"I win." Link smirked.

"Not exactly honourable, are you?" Marth muttered.

"What would you expect from a _commoner?_" Link mocked.

"I suppose you're going to kill me then?" Marth sighed.

"No…" Link said.

"I respect you, whoever you are, and you have as much a right to live as I. I hope that both of us survive this. We both have kingdoms to return to."

Link's hookshot attached itself to Marth's chestplate and pulled him off the ground.

"What are you doing?"

Link dragged Marth until he was dangling over the edge of the cliff, nothing but clouds and the shapes of distant continents below.

"What are you _doing_?!" Marth yelped, trying to wriggle free of the contraption.

"Don't worry." Link grinned.

"You won't die."

The sound of chains whirring resonated through the air as the hookshot released Marth and he fell off the temple.


End file.
